Should be an interesting day at Madison Square Garden, and all around the NHL … I think it’s going to be a big one even by the usual trade deadline day standards, and even though several trades have already been made on Tuesday.

It is D-day for Ryan Callahan and Glen Sather, who had closed the gap significantly Tuesday on a new six-year contract, but who hadn’t finalized it. So we’ll see if they get it done today, or if they play chicken up the deadline, or if Sather finds a good return in a trade for his captain, or if he decides to sit tight and continue negotiating through and after the deadline.

We’ll be here all day long, and especially on Twitter (@rangersreport) for all the goings-on.

TONIGHT’S GAME
The Rangers will face-off against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Madison Square Garden (7:00 p.m. — TV: MSG Plus; Radio: Bloomberg Radio), in an Original Six matchup. The Blueshirts currently rank third in the Metropolitan Division standings, and seventh in the Eastern Conference, with a record of 33-26-3 (69 pts). The Rangers enter the contest having been defeated by the Boston Bruins, 6-3, on Sunday at Madison Square Garden, to complete a back-to-back set. The Blueshirts are 17-8-1 in their last 26 games overall, including a 12-6-0 mark in their last 18, and are tied for fourth in the conference in ROW (29). The Maple Leafs enter the contest with a 32-23-8 (72 pts) record to rank fifth in the Eastern Conference, and have lost their last three games. Following the contest, the Rangers will return to action when they face-off against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday, Mar. 7, at PNC Arena (7:00 p.m.), in a Metropolitan Division matchup.

RANGERS vs. MAPLE LEAFS:All-Time: 224-273-95-6 overall (130-111-56-3 at home; 94-162-39-3 on the road)2013-14: Tonight is the third and final meeting this season, and the second of two meetings at Madison Square Garden. New York is 2-0-0 (1-0-0 at home; 1-0-0 on the road), following a 7-1 win on Jan. 4 at Air Canada Centre. The Rangers have out-shot the Maple Leafs, 93-52, including 38-16 in the second period, in the series. Sixteen different Rangers have tallied a point in the series, and seven have scored goals. Carl Hagelin (one goal, one assist), Chris Kreider (one goal, one assist), Dominic Moore (two goals) and Benoit Pouliot (one goal, one assist) are tied for the team-lead with two points in the series. Cam Talbot is 2-0-0 with a 0.96 GAA and a .962 Sv% in the series.Last Season: New York was 2-1-0 overall (2-0-0 mark at home; 0-1-0 mark on the road). Two of their three meetings were separated by one goal, including a 3-2 SO victory for the Blueshirts on Apr. 10 at MSG. The Rangers out-shot the Maple Leafs, 104-70, with a 75-48 advantage after the first period, and out-scored Toronto 6-2 in the third period. Rick Nash (two goals, two assists) and Derek Stepan (one goal, three assists) tied for the team lead in scoring with four points apiece in the series, while Henrik Lundqvist was 2-1-0 with a 2.61 GAA.
The Rangers have recorded a point in 14 of their last 17 meetings with the Maple Leafs (12-3-2 over the span)
The Rangers and Maple Leafs have been separated by two goals or fewer in nine of their last 13 meetings (5-3-1 when separated by two or fewer goals goals), including six games separated by one goal (4-1-1 when separated by one goal)
New York is 15-15-3 at home; Toronto is 11-12-7 on the road
The Rangers are 12-6-0 vs. Atlantic Division opponents; the Maple Leafs are 7-9-3 vs. Metropolitan Division opponents
New York lists two former Maple Leafs on its roster: Dominic Moore (2007-08 – 2008-09); Anton Stralman (2007-08 – 2008-09)
Toronto lists one former Ranger on its roster: Colton Orr (2005-06 – 2008-09)

ORIGINAL SIX SHOWDOWN: Tonight’s contest will be the 12th of 14 scheduled games against Original Six opponents this season (7-4-0). Since 2005-06, New York has posted a record of 65-41-12 against Original Six teams, including a 20-9-4 mark vs. Toronto over the span. The Rangers’ .602 win% ranks third, trailing Detroit (.644, 50-25-12) and Montreal (.610, 90-55-14), and ahead of Chicago (.546, 41-33-13), Boston (.531, 74-64-24), and Toronto (.491, 67-70-24).

THE PUCK STOPS HERE: The Blueshirts have allowed two goals or less in 36 of 62 games this season, including 13 of their last 18 contests, and in 10 of the last 12 at home (five of the last six at MSG). New York is 28-8-0 when holding opponents to two goals or less.

SHOOTING GALLERY: The Rangers have registered at least 40 shots 11 times this season, including three times in the last six games. The Blueshirts have been credited with 221 shots on goal over the last six contests (36.8 shots on goal per game), and have out-shot their opponent in eight of their last 10 games and 12 of the last 15. The Rangers rank third in the NHL in shots per game (32.9).

KING HENRIK: Henrik Lundqvist has allowed two goals or fewer in 10 of his last 14 games (10-4-0, 2.07 GAA, .932 Sv%, and one shutout over the span), and is 12-5-1 with a 2.26 GAA, .926 Sv%, and one shutout in his last 18 appearances. Lundqvist won his 20th game of the season with a 4-1 victory on Jan. 31 against the Islanders, to extend his streak as the only goalie in the league with an active streak of nine-straight 20-win seasons. Now in his ninth season, Lundqvist is two wins away from the 300th of his NHL career, and three wins away from Mike Richter’s franchise record of 301 career victories.

ROAD WARRIORS: New York has won 16 of their last 21 contests on the road, including a six-game winning streak from Jan. 4 – Feb. 7. The Rangers also won six straight on the road from Oct. 26 – Nov. 23, marking the first time the Rangers posted two separate six-game winning streaks on the road in a season. The Blueshirts are now 18-11-0 on the road this season, which leads the Eastern Conference and is tied for second in the league overall (road wins). The Blueshirts power play ranks second in the NHL on the road (23-90, 25.6%).

THE HOT LIST:
Henrik Lundqvist – Has held opponents to two goals or less in 10 of his last 14 games (10-4-0, 2.07 GAA, .932 Sv%, 1 SO), and is 12-5-1 in his last 18 (2.26 GAA, .926 Sv%, 1 SO)
Derick Brassard – 10 points (five goals, five assists) in the last nine games
Derek Stepan – 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in the last 13 games, with an assist in each of the last three (four)
Brad Richards – 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in the last 20 games, including six points (three goals, three assists) in the last seven
J.T. Miller – three points (one goal, two assists) in his last five NHL games, with two points (one goal, one assist) in three games since his recall
Benoit Pouliot – four points (two goals, two assists) in the last five games, and six points (three goals, three assists) in the last nine
Rick Nash – 12 goals in the last 19 games, including eight goals in the last 13

I’m still shocked that Vancouver would deal both Schneider AND Luongo. I mean, surely they should have kept Schneider for less than a year while they worked the Luongo trade? Instead of going with Lack/Markstrom as their goaltending duo for the rest of the season?

Plus rumours that they are willing to trade Kesler, Burrows and Edler……REBUILD!

I hope they finalize it with Callahan today.I saw a lot of posts yesterday complaining he isn’t worth it. Yes, at 6×6 he will be overpaid a bit, but in this scenario I don’t mind them overpaying for their captain and what he means to this team. Also, this year he is making $4.825M. What do you think his raise should be then? It’s laughable when you say he isn’t worth more than $5-$5.5M. Is it really that much different from $6M? The difference will have no impact on their cap situation next year.

Something else to consider. When Prust was negotiating with Sather the cap situation was very difficult. We knew it would go down, no idea by how much, and no idea how the lockout would impact it in the future. I was against them matching what Montreal offered, still think it was the right move. But if it were now, with our current knowledge of what cap will look like over the next few years, I would like them to give him $2.5×4. I think they would too. Providing he wanted to stay in NY. Not a forgone conclusion, as we know now.

ilb,
over payed a bit? he is over payed right now. 6×6 is to much for his game. if he really wants to stay he will take 6×6. much like Girardi wanted to stay. Girardi of course took a fair market deal. where as Cally is looking for every last dime.
I usually root for the players in theses situations, but with Cally his demands are absurd. I hope the Rangers trade him or let him walk to Buffalo, where he will never be heard from again. disgusted by him.

Intangibles deserve reward. It’s just a matter of how much. Cally does things, currently, that others don’t. Holy roll up your sleeves, Batman.

$6 or more for 6 is overpaying. But i’d rather overpay someone that is repeated and loved by most fans, home grown, and a respectable leader in the locker room than a fly-by-night, non -defense playing Richards. I can deal with the former, not the latter.

He drove a hard bargain if he gets resigned. He will be making a bit more than he should. He better stay healthy and deliver.

But he is OUR player. Good or bad. Smart signing or not, good move or not, there something to loyalty and identity.

THESE SIGNINGS, OUR OWN FREE AGENTS THAT MATTER TO THE ORGANIZATION, SHOULD BE NEGOTIATED WELL OVER A YEAR BEFORE EXPIRY. SATHER DROPPED THE BALL ON ALL 3 BIG ONES THIS YEAR THINKING HE WOULD CREATE LEVERAGE. THE SOONER YOU ADDRESS AND FIX, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, THE BETTER OFF THE TEAM IS. IT KNOWS IT’S FATE.

THESE LAST MINUTE, DOWN TO THE END BATTLES DON’T WORK ANYMORE. THE PLAYERS ARE TOO SAVVY, WELL FUNDED, AND UP TO YOUR TRICKS! ALL IT DOES IS CAUSE UNNECESSARY DISTRACTION AT NO GAIN.

Trading deadline day..the NHLs gift to the Canadian radio and TV sport stations and of course…blogs everywhere that hockey breathes. ilb is right….Cally is oyr Captain…and the team has been class B level competitive which was beyond our early expectation the past two years. He does get injured..so maybe many fans would be happier with an 80% effort and better health. But based on how this sport operates..he deserves a raise and we should bench Richards today..amd all will be well. If we picked up a player today like Cally..we would be happy..therefore we should be ecstatic if he signs an extension.

BTW, this distraction does not free Sather from making some moves that make sense.

We still have so many needs that have not been addressed. Remember at the beginning of the season we talked of a lack of playable toughness? Elite scoring? A point playing defenseman with a booming shot (MacD may be that)? A crease clearing defenseman? Someone, anyone, who can be a deterrent for the big boys that push us around (Lucic, etc)?

Where are they?

Please don’t mortgage the future with that ONE move that will get us over the top on deadline day. once again, we are so far from it, it doesn’t make sense. Thanks to your GREAT work, Mr. Sather.

We all sit here and worry about someone else’s money. If the cap situation eases, as expected, then this contract shouldn’t be a problem. I don’t think this is going to be a “he got his , now I want mine” situation. I really don’t. It’s a business and players understand that. Agents maybe not. This isn’t baseball where that $25 million a year player needs $30 million next time around because his once best contract has been passed by. This is a different sport with a salary cap. I say sign Cally for whatever is fair for both sides and move on. If not, get max back in a trade.

“Everybody knows how the business works,” Stastny said. “You can obviously go somewhere and get more money somewhere else. But if you have something good and you want to stick with it, that hometown discount is obviously something that everyone’s aware of and is important to do. You want both sides to be happy. You don’t want to [mistreat] the team and you want the team to be put in a good situation where they can kind of compete down the road as well.”

That’s what has so many of us appreciating Girardi’s gentlemanly ways, and making us feel Callahan is a pig.

I like Cally not less then guy next to me (who is my son wearing his jersey), but with all his tangibles and intangibles he is just NOT worth it. You don’t pay 3rd liner (and he is, – a good one), $6mil+.Period. And for all those mathematical substantiations about needed raise – in this case, he is not a permanently appreciated real estate, but rather depreciating, beaten up, high mileage car – nothing fancy, but still good for ride. But you don’t pay for Chevy Cadillac price.
Sorry Cally and loving loyalists.

MrD,
you really believe that 11 goals makes you a 2nd line player. 11 goals plus intangibles make you a top end 3rd liner. that is what Cally is. a top 3rd liner. he is the 3rd RW on the Rangers. Nash, and the teams leading scorer in Zucc ahead of him.

There is a UFA over the summer we should pick up.
Not a great goal scorer, more of a heart and soul guy; has only scored 20 goals 3X at 29 yrs old.
Plays the body, but doesn’t inflict much pain because he is 5’10” 180 lbs and rarely throws checks after the 1st period. He is great on PK and awesome shot blocking forward. Never fights, at least not without hurting himself.
Tends to miss games because of style of play so you never know he may break down.

His asking price is $6MM per for 6 years…should we sign him?
Remember, he has GREAT intangibles…

That means we have depth or that you really believe in Zucc or whatever, it doesn’t mean he’s a 3rd liner, as stated above (and ad nauseum previously). Ryan Kesler won’t suddenly be labeled, for valuation purposes, a 3C if Pittsburgh gets him, right?

No way to win when you either sign a brittle player for too many years, or trade him + futures for an old hobbit who won’t amount to spit, in two years. What a corner to paint yourself into. Nice going, Mr. Smoke Rings.

I wonder how this works with Sather negotiating the Callahan contract. Are the assistants working the phones fielding trade offers? I assume they had meetings about who they’d target and who they’re willing to give up. Assuming Sather has been awake at some point.

MSL is has a .93 PPG average over his career. His average the last seven season is actually higher than his career at 1.1 PPG. The guy can flat out score and set up goals, and is signed reasonably through next year.

I wouldn’t bid against myself, but I’m not saying “no” because of his size.

Sather has made a shift away from Eastern European players with a preference for American players. That seems to be his “plan” the last few years. I don’t expect any Eastern Europeans to be brought in.

The question is what do the Rangers need to add to Callahan, to get St. Louis? I’d do Callahan and Miller for St. Louis in a heartbeat.

Trade deadline is great isn’t it? A whole day where millions of people wait to see if fathers, husbands, and sons will be forced to move from their homes, away from their family and friends, to a strange new city in order to help a group of strangers win a plastic trophy.

St. Louis would instantly be the best player on our team this year and next, while getting rid of Callahan’s potentially albatross disaster contract and while Miller is a decent prospect, he’s nothing special.

You know what would be cool? Not being the dumping ground for big name outsiders who already have or are getting huge deals. Nash, Richards, a billion before them, Ehrhoff rumors, J. Staal, I’m sure there’s more. Hold the line on Callahan but then lets bring in all these grass-is-greener guys whose teams are done with them.

Want to have some fun? Look at Patrice Bergeron’s career arc and tell me how quickly most of this board would have been screaming that we need to trade Patrice Bergeron. Oh my god would he have been traded a lot.

Also fun on the Bergeron comp is that he scored 31, signed a huge deal then scored 33 over the next 150. We would have screamed about his heart and how he just wanted the money and how we should dump trade him for nothing.

Is there really evidence that Tampa would want Callahan as part of a deal? Why wouldnt they want THE or Hagelin or Brassard instead, seeing as how Callahan will not wind up signing with them after this season anyway (no way will Yzerman pay him)

Miller is not a top 9 player on this current team, nor does he look the part as a future top 6 player. As currently constructed, Miller is in Prucha land, not in the lineup so getting rid of him does not hurt our current team at all.

Essentially our team is exactly the same, but we swap Callahan for MSL. That makes us 100% better than we are right now.

This is going to be Sather’s ridiculous masterpiece. Your captain and 1st round pick(s???) for a 38 year old who has said he will only go to your team. This might be worse than Nash, even when we thought it could be Kreider.

This reminds me of when the Broncos traded their captain plus their 1st plus their 2nd for Peyton Manning who might be the best QB in NFL history OH WAIT NO THEY DIDN’T THEY JUST LET INDY LET HIM GO AND THEN SIGNED HIM BECAUSE LEVERAGE ISN’T REALLY THE TOUGHEST THING IN THE WORLD TO UNDERSTAND I AM GOING TO DIE BOYS I AM LITERALLY GOING TO DIE …

Look at the bright side…………..once again none of us will have to waste our time watching the NHL draft. Once again, our #1 pick will have been discarded. This time, for a 39 YO player. We now have 2 lines with pygmies on the wings. That will work.

This team is better now by a good margin, no doubt. Not upset about Callahan since it sounds he wasn’t going to resign here, bull dog was right. I just can’t believe that adding a first rounder was a necessity. I guess Yzerman isn’t Howson.

Maybe Stewart would be better, but this is a very good return. MSL has always produced and will help our PP a lot. Possibly staying more than this current contract. I’m glad calmly is out. Sorry, but his best days are over. He’s going to be a top 3rd liner in Tampa.

Love the fact that he was a homegrown talent, came through our farm system, etc. Love his style of play – aggressive, give 100% every shift, plays the game the right way.

It’s just really tough to swallow spending 6 million a year on a forward who doesn’t score very much. Yes, he does all the little things, is a stalwart in his own end, and we are absolutely going to miss that (remember Prust?) and have to replace this hole, but spending 6 mil on him for the next 6 years just didn’t seem prudent.

If MSL stays a couple more year past this contract. This trade will be well worth it. He was toe to toe with backes last night. Size isn’t going to be a problem, and with sellane, and jäger showing production beyond 40. It’s very possible he signs a couple more years.

I don’t like the draft picks either, but again, it looks like Sather’s plan is to win in the next two years. Now, I agree, he needs to find some size with talent. He does that, and I really think there’s a chance for this.

that Martin St.Louis is nearly 39 years old yet still has nearly 20 more points than the Rangers leading scorer means he’s an upgrade. but that he’s nearly 39 years old and fetched Callahan and potentially 2 first round picks means Glen Sather is a moron.

Well I hope cally’s agent didn’t screw up his future, but I have a hard time seeing him make anywhere near 6mill. I know buffalo mentioned they would, but it’s a different story during free agency were there will be many similar players.

I don’t ubderstand the picks, granted the Rangers didn’t have a ton of leverage; but St Louis gave Yzerman NO leverage by saying he would ONLY go to NY.. how do they give up a First in what is suppose to be a very deep draft??

So we just traded a guy with 25 points in 45 games (who will only possibly play 20 games for his new team) for a guy who is on pace for an 80 point season (possibly 40 goals) and has another year left on his contract (and has shown no signs of dropping off) – for a cap hit $0.5m less than we would have been paying Callahan?

…and we are complaining about draft picks being included which lets face it arent going to yield us anything other than 3rd liners or AHL players probably. Meh!

I do like MSL. He’s a world class talent who should give opposing teams à lot more to worry about compared to greed-a-han. Besides, our other smurf is the leading scorer on this team. We could sure use him on the power play too where the boys have been winning & losing games.

First round picks are no guarantee (montoya del zotto, sanguinetti, mcilrath?) and 2nd rounders def are not a sure thing. St louis is. I also like the fact its a 2015 first b/c we didnt have a first last year so it spreads the age of our prospect pool.

Also not signing Cally to that contract will be huge down the road. Those numbers looked waaay worse to me than this trade does. You have to take these things into account looking into these deals.

St louis has more goals than anyone on the rangers, more assists than anyone on the rangers, totaling 17 more points than any other ranger.

Callahan stinks and always has. Good riddance. This means that Richards will likely be with us following this season. Excellent news. If the choice is between Richards and Callahan, I choose Richards every time.

geez…thw wau we draft and by the time any of the two picks we gave up develop, Hank will be 70 years old. We can always get picks back but can’t always get a player like Marty. I say, good deal for us.

My simple take on this trade was Cally pushed the envelope too far & it became a thorn up Sather’s ass. Also, Sather wants to make the play-offs and in the short term we now now have our 2nd pure scorer. Need a little more bulk in our line-up b4 3pm

For the short term, the Richards line has been significantly upgraded. I expect that Stralman is going today, and maybe Boyle. The Klein upgrade to the 2nd pairing seems to indicate that Stralman could be going and maybe McIlrath or Allen move up.

as offensive forwards, there’s no comparison. St. Louis is at least twice the offensive force that Callahan is. but you’re losing a lot of shot blocking plus 2 high draft picks for a guy who will be 39 years old in 3 months. don’t like that aspect of the trade.

This team is immediately more fun to watch. And money will bring in the pieces needed to win while Hank is here, so go ahead with getting rid of draft picks for a prolific scorer who has shown no sign of fade.

Callahan was previously making 4.5 million. Is a 1.5 million raise that much of a stretch for a home grown captain who gives it all every game? When you think of it that way, no way, especially how Sather throws money away on other team’s rejects ( see 9 mil for Richards) . But at same time, Callahan should not have held the team hostage with his demands, especially demanding he gets paid more than Jonathan Toews and Dustin Brown.

Come to think if, Tampa wasn’t going to give up their leading goalscorer for nothing. I know MSL wanted out, doesn’t mean Yzerman had to trade him. Hate to say it, but Callahan was essentially a throw in in this deal, he isn’t staying there. So is MSL for 1st and 2nd that bad? Still something doesn’t feel right.

I do mind that all of that happened in one trade. Sather had Steve Yzerman by the short and curlies because MSL was only going to agree to go to the Rangers and every guy on TSN said Yzerman had to deal him.

Should have swapped the picks for MSL and then used Callahan in another deal to get player(s)/picks. The problem is Sather waited so long to move Callahan that he probably didn’t have the time to do both.

The number one way for a GM to prove he doesn’t know how to build a Cup caliber team in the salary cap era is to literally say “I don’t know how to build a Cup caliber team in the salary cap era”. The number two way for a GM to prove he doesn’t know how to build a Cup caliber team in the salary cap era is to consistently overpay for UFAs and double pay for veterans making at or above their actual value.

How much will Cally make in the off season? I’m going to say 4 mill tops. It’s too bad when you think he could of stayed, and yea I agree that calmly was a throw in. Yzerman knew MSL wanted out, and wanted to get as much back from the Rangers, and he knew MSL was prized right now because of his point production.

Guys on TSN made a good point, it’s not like Callahan didnt see this coming. If he wasnt willing to come down 250,000 to the Rangers of 6 for 6 he shouldnt be all that surprised to be traded. At that point 250K makes little difference so everything was in his control.

Personally while I don’t like Sather I think this whole thing was a gianty CF by Cally’s agent. Way overvalued him based on what some second rate organization in complete disarray (see Lafontaine, Pat) would pay, then got into a staring match. I guarantee you Callahan wanted to stay here in NY and his agent told him to hold on, hold on, wait, we have all the leverage. Sather got PO’ed. Plus if you are Callahan you could have just signed for $36 million in a situation you knew you liked. Instead, you gave up being captain of the NY Rangers and have to pray you dont get injured in the next 20 games.

I recognize Sather should have dealt with this earlier and much differently to begin with, but Callahan’s agent just blew this. 6 years, 36 million for him is absolutely very fair. No way in hell this is what Callahan wanted to happen or expected. No way.